Andreas Christensen

[NikkiCFC 7,587]

People will focus on Sarr but Chris was horrid today.

[Tomo 21,681]

41 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

People will focus on Sarr but Chris was horrid today.

I mean, he surely deserves credit in the bank after the year he has had no?

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

Just now, Tomo said:

I mean, he surely deserves credit in the bank after the year he has had no?

You’d think so, granted he played poor but in the match thread there was a lot of OTT comments.

The contract situation probably doesn’t help and clouds peoples judgement also, same with for Rudiger but as you’ve said he’s done more than enough the last 12 months to get away with one poor game. He will bounce back. He wasn’t the only one tonight, Azpi and Sarr were also horrible as were most of the players bar Kepa.

[NikkiCFC 7,587]

8 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I mean, he surely deserves credit in the bank after the year he has had no?

I praised him a lot this year. I am like that I like to praise but I also like to criticize.

 

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

Good news if true. Hopefully word on Azpi next. Rudiger resigning would be a bonus but looks hugely unlikely. 

[Tomo 21,681]

1 hour ago, OneMoSalah said:

Good news if true. Hopefully word on Azpi next. Rudiger resigning would be a bonus but looks hugely unlikely. 

A bit torn on Azpi, starting to see signs he maybe doing an Ivanovic circa 2015. 

[Strike 6,964]

46 minutes ago, Tomo said:

A bit torn on Azpi, starting to see signs he maybe doing an Ivanovic circa 2015. 

Feel the time has come for him to move on or accept a squad role as backup CB. We need an agile backup RWB 

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

5 hours ago, Tomo said:

A bit torn on Azpi, starting to see signs he maybe doing an Ivanovic circa 2015. 

Aye his levels of performance and consistency are dropping unfortunately but I reckon as a squad player and being the club captain he may still have a part to play in some capacity.

Particularly in and around the dressing room and on the training ground, setting an example for some of the younger/newer players. Maybe similarly to Terry under Antonio Conte although I think Azpi has definitely got more high level football left in him than Terry did at that point.

[NikkiCFC 7,587]

5 hours ago, Strike said:

Feel the time has come for him to move on or accept a squad role as backup CB. We need an agile backup RWB 

That is already happening. 

Rudiger, Silva and Christensen played more minutes. Chalobah around 100 minutes less but this is only because he got injured. So Azpi is basically number 5. And if we get Kounde for that RCB role really can't see a place for him. 

Rudiger, Azpi out

De Ligt, Kounde in 

[Mário César 814]

 

 

[Pizy 17,860]

The easiest of our CB’s to replace from a skill set POV, though it will suck that we won’t get top dollar for him (any dollars, actually) due to his contract situation. It’ll basically cost 50-60 million to replace him with Koundé.

With Silva confirmed to be back next season, it’s much more important to lock down Rüdiger than it is AC. Literally ANY one of Süle, Koundé, or Ginter is a pretty substantial upgrade on AC. 

[Vytis33 1,043]

Wonder what happened here.  Was talked about pretty openly like more or less a done deal.  Weird. 

[Vegetable 788]

Well, he plays well and is rather useful given all the absences, so I can understand he gambles harder. 

Been here basically entire career, been bashed for years, can understand he may feel burnt out and stronger positioned since he has his 5 minutes now…

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

Sincerely hope we don’t lose him to Bayern or Barca. Same with Rudiger, losing him would be a disaster. There aren’t that many good CBs out there, yet alone attainable ones so to say yeah OK you can just go for nothing, it would be criminal. I mean the lack of attainable top top CBs available is probably part of the reason the club signed Thiago Silva the other year as a shorter term option, although he’s proven time and time again he’s still as good as they come these days still. 

I mean Rudi really is as good as anybody right now in Europe and in his prime so to speak and well, Andreas is still coming to his best/prime years at 25 years old after re-establishing himself under Tuchel after 18 months where people were concerned for his future here.

Maybe its just me but I think he is also emerging as someone who is being trusted more and more and looks like he is very capable of becoming a leadership figure in the dressing room. He leads by example playing at a consistently high level in the same way Azpilicueta did for instance over the years. Plus I still think he has another level to hit yet, despite having been one of the most consistent players in the last year or so in that position. 

7 hours ago, Pizy said:

The easiest of our CB’s to replace from a skill set POV, though it will suck that we won’t get top dollar for him (any dollars, actually) due to his contract situation. It’ll basically cost 50-60 million to replace him with Koundé.

With Silva confirmed to be back next season, it’s much more important to lock down Rüdiger than it is AC. Literally ANY one of Süle, Koundé, or Ginter is a pretty substantial upgrade on AC. 

If I am honest, I have to disagree. Bayern are normally very very shrewd when it comes to this thing so I am not surprised that they would be very happy on letting Sule go (considering the salary he’s demanding) and getting either Andreas or Rudi (or both) on a free, as both would be upgrades (Rudi significantly). 

I don’t think Ginter is necessarily a bad player either but again, if you were a top top club (never mind being a top top club who already have both Rudi and Andreas on their books) you would keep either both/one of them over signing MG 100/100 times. Or you’d think you would.

On Kounde, I wasn’t overly convinced on him for the money Sevilla wanted last season and honestly, still not entirely convinced this season. If it were less than £68m, say £40-45m or so, I could see it making more sense but £68m, is he really that good? When I watch him, I just don’t see it as value for money although his age does contribute. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by OneMoSalah

[Vesper 27,324]

On 15/01/2022 at 05:43, OneMoSalah said:

Sincerely hope we don’t lose him to Bayern or Barca. Same with Rudiger, losing him would be a disaster. There aren’t that many good CBs out there, yet alone attainable ones so to say yeah OK you can just go for nothing, it would be criminal. I mean the lack of attainable top top CBs available is probably part of the reason the club signed Thiago Silva the other year as a shorter term option, although he’s proven time and time again he’s still as good as they come these days still. 

I mean Rudi really is as good as anybody right now in Europe and in his prime so to speak and well, Andreas is still coming to his best/prime years at 25 years old after re-establishing himself under Tuchel after 18 months where people were concerned for his future here.

Maybe its just me but I think he is also emerging as someone who is being trusted more and more and looks like he is very capable of becoming a leadership figure in the dressing room. He leads by example playing at a consistently high level in the same way Azpilicueta did for instance over the years. Plus I still think he has another level to hit yet, despite having been one of the most consistent players in the last year or so in that position. 

If I am honest, I have to disagree. Bayern are normally very very shrewd when it comes to this thing so I am not surprised that they would be very happy on letting Sule go (considering the salary he’s demanding) and getting either Andreas or Rudi (or both) on a free, as both would be upgrades (Rudi significantly). 

I don’t think Ginter is necessarily a bad player either but again, if you were a top top club (never mind being a top top club who already have both Rudi and Andreas on their books) you would keep either both/one of them over signing MG 100/100 times. Or you’d think you would.

On Kounde, I wasn’t overly convinced on him for the money Sevilla wanted last season and honestly, still not entirely convinced this season. If it were less than £68m, say £40-45m or so, I could see it making more sense but £68m, is he really that good? When I watch him, I just don’t see it as value for money although his age does contribute. 

the only 'walk into the club and FOR SURE have the quality to replace AC and Rudiger , especially Rudiger' CB's who are even REMOTELY (and most on this list will cost a shit tonne, with overpay in some cases to prise them away) are (and this is absolutely stretching the concept of 'available')

and only the ones in bold are BANG ON locks in terms of quality to replace Rudiger, the other 5 would or could be a replacement for AC if we keep Rudiger and lose AC

all of the 5 in bold will be insanely hard to pull, save for the 31yo (so not ideal there for long term at all) in June KK

    
Marquinhos  
Milan Skriniar   
Matthijs de Ligt    
Alessandro Bastoni
Kalidou Koulibaly (I am ignoring age here, as he meets the quality criteria for 2, 3 years and they would sell him, I am NOT saying it is a good deal financially)
Jules Koundé
Aymeric Laporte    (NO clue if Pep thinks he is expendable)
Pau Torres   
Stefan de Vrij  (turns 30 in 20 days, so is only 6 months younger than Koulibaly) 
José María Giménez (his injury history worries me greatly though)

the you have 10 more who are bigger gambles, not 100% near sure things (and Giménez above is a gamble even, in terms of heath long term)

some of these are hard AF pulls as well (Lucas Hernández and Ronald Araújo)

Nico Schlotterbeck (has rocketed up my charts, 22yo, 1.191m, pacey, superb instincts, strong, has probably been the best CB in the Bundesliga the first half)
Niklas Süle
Lucas Hernández  
Maxence Lacroix  
Edmond Tapsoba   
Presnel Kimpembe   
Ronald Araújo 
Sven Botman 
Wesley Fofana  (ONLY if he is fully recovered from a bad knee injury)
Evan Ndicka 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Vesper

[NikkiCFC 7,587]

6 hours ago, Vesper said:

Nico Schlotterbeck  1.191m, pacey

Pacey with that height?  Is he a mountain? 

[Magic Lamps 11,451]

54 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Pacey with that height?  Is he a mountain? 

Or a Lilliputian if it is a decimal separator

schlotterbeck is quite decent. Made a good debut for the nt. Never looked at him as a target for us and Bundesliga is not exactly rich in top attackers but would not mind him. He is a bit like a young Gary Cahill in built and playing style. Athletic but conservative in his tackling. Good in the air. Alright on the ball and usually looking to progress it cleanly. Slight Deficiencies in proactive defending and balance . He is in only his 2nd season of regular pro football tho. Not sure he puked be up for the challenge to play for us mentally. Would be a gamble but not an expensive one. Contract runs out next year. 

[NikkiCFC 7,587]

1 minute ago, Magic Lamps said:

Or a Lilliputian if it is a decimal separator

schlotterbeck is quite decent. Made a good debut for the nt. Never looked at him as a target for us and Bundesliga is not exactly rich in top attackers but would not mind him. He is a bit like a young Gary Cahill in built and playing style. Athletic but conservative in his tackling. Good in the air. Alright on the ball and usually looking to progress it cleanly. Slight Deficiencies in proactive defending and balance . He is in only his 2nd season of regular pro football tho. Not sure he puked be up for the challenge to play for us mentally. Would be a gamble but not an expensive one. Contract runs out next year. 

Speaking of Cahill who was great success for low money and now looking at Wolves defense I wonder do they have a defender worth taking? It could not be just a system? 

Just 15 goals conceded, best defense in the league considering City defends with attack so maybe Coady? Kilman?